Sindhu, Sameer enter second round of Hong Kong Open

Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma notched up contrasting wins on Wednesday to progress to the second round of the Hong Kong Open World Tour Super 500 tournament, here.

Sindhu, seeded third, continued her consistent run as she recovered from a mid-game slump to surpass Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol 21-15 13-21 21-17 in the opening round which lasted a little over an hour.

It was Sindhu’s fourth win over the Thai player.

Sindhu, who won three major silver medals this season — Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games — will take on Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun next.

The 23-year-old from Hyderabad has a superior 8-5 head-to-head record against the Korean.

In the men’s singles, Sameer, who clinched the Swiss Open and Hyderabad Open this year, saw off another Thai Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21-17 21-14 to set up a clash with China’s Olympic champion Chen Long.

However, former Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth was stunned by Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand in a 62-minute opener.

Praneeth had a 3-0 record against Khosit ahead of the match but it didn’t matter as he went down fighting 21-16 11-21 15-21 to bow out of the tournament.